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Preview: New Warfront — Battle for Darkshore

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

In the ashen shadow of Teldrassil, the night elves prepare to strike back against the Forsaken and reclaim their ancestral homeland. . . .

With the upcoming release of Tides of Vengeance, the war between the Horde and Alliance will arrive to a brand-new Warfront: The Battle for Darkshore. Players of both factions will meet once more on the shores of Kalimdor to vie for control of this war-torn region.

The Cycle of War Begins Anew
When Tides of Vengeance goes live, Darkshore will start in the hands of the Forsaken and the Horde—but it won’t be long before the Alliance makes its first strike.

Max-level Alliance players who complete the new opening storyline with Tyrande and the night elves will be immediately able to queue for the Battle for Darkshore Warfront, signaling the start of a new cycle of war as each faction contributes resources, launches their assault, and reaps the benefits of claiming Darkshore for their own.

We’ve also shortened the cycle for the first two weeks of the Warfront so that players from both factions will have access to it and all its rewards prior to the holidays.

A War on Two Fronts
With the addition of the Battle for Darkshore, there will be two battles for players to fight—and many resource contributions to be made to support the war efforts in both the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor.

To help support these dual efforts, we’re making some updates to the Warfront cycles and phases, and how each faction gains access to the Battle for Darkshore and Battle for Stromgarde.

First, each Warfront’s cycle is completely independent from the other, and players will be able to contribute to either Warfront without impacting the other. You’ll be able to track the progress of contributions for each in an updated UI so you’ll be able to easily see which phase each Warfront is in.

Contribute Phase
With the release of Tides of Vengeance, we’re also changing the way the Contribute phase works for both Warfronts. While there were previously 11 quests available at the start of the contribution cycle, there will instead be 3 available each day during this phase. These quests will always include one to turn in either gold or War Resources, as well as two profession turn-ins.

Siege Phase
The Siege phase is when your faction can queue up for the Warfront instance. And while this phase works much the same as it did with the Battle for Stromgarde, the new Darkshore Warfront offers a whole new experience—with new locations, troops, building types, objectives, and more. Players who meet the minimum item-level requirement of 320 will be able to queue for the Battle for Darkshore Warfront as often as they would like while this phase is active.

As the Alliance, your mission will be to reclaim Darkshore and undo the natural devastation caused by marauding Forsaken. On the Horde, your ultimate goal will be to wrest control of this key location in Kalimdor back from the Alliance, razing the landscape and ensuring the night elves can’t reclaim their homeland.

As players storm this new Warfront, they’ll notice some other changes that set it apart from the Battle for Stromgarde. For example: Rather than grant a buff to players, Essence of Storms will provide players with access to powerful transformations allowing them to take on alternate roles such as healing or tanking on the battlefield.

Players will also gain new gear from the new Warfront (starting at item level 340), and players can take part in a quest once per Warfront cycle to obtain a higher item level piece of gear.

Patrol Phase
During the Patrol phase, maximum-level players of the controlling faction who have completed an introductory questline will be able to participate in multiple new outdoor activities in the newly revamped Darkshore zone. Controlling the zone will also provide access to a new faction-specific World Boss, rare creatures, and access to new gear, pets, mounts, and Warfront gear. There will also be plenty of new treasures hidden throughout the zone just waiting to be discovered.

Players will also be able to take part in a rotating series of new World Quests during this phase which provide additional opportunities to get great new loot to use in your ongoing adventures.

What's New in the Darkshore Zone?
With the arrival of this new Warfront, the outdoor zone of Darkshore has been reshaped by the fires of war for maximum-level players and features environment updates, an all-new World Boss for each faction, and all new World Quests for the controlling faction. There will also be new rare creatures to discover along the way that have a chance to drop mounts, pets, toys, treasure chests, and new Darkshore Warfronts gear.

We’ve also updated the Patrol Phase for Arathi Highlands in Tides of Vengeance to include many new World Quests, which will replace the current kill quests in the outdoor zone. Like those being introduced in Darkshore, these will rotate each day that your faction controls the zone, providing new opportunities for loot and rewards each time you return during the Patrol phase.

Completing these new World Quests in both Darkshore and Arathi Highlands will help you increase your reputation with the 7th Legion or Honorbound emissary.

Rewarding the War Effort
Players will be able to earn new night elf (Alliance) or Forsaken (Horde)–themed Warfront armor sets, as well as a new Service Medal currency, by taking part in various activities in the Warfront. Service Medals can be used to purchase items such as new heirlooms, pets, mounts, transmog cloaks, a teleport ring, and experience potions at a vendor located in the Warfronts area of either Boralus or Zandalar.

The item levels of gear from both Warfronts will start off in line with those currently available in Arathi Highlands; however, the item levels will increase once and Season 2 of the raid, PvP, and Mythic Dungeon begins with the arrival of the Battle of Dazar’alor raid.

What are Warfronts?
Warfronts represent large-scale war on the homefront as members of each faction fight for control of a location critical to the war effort between the Horde and Alliance.

Anchored in the real-time strategy (RTS) origins of Warcraft, you play the role of a lieutenant leading the charge on the ground of a massive battle. Together with 19 fellow allied players, you will create an outpost, secure resources, set up supply lines, and train troops to help push forward and assault an enemy stronghold. Unlike Warcraft III, you’ll be fighting in this conflict firsthand rather than commanding from a top-down perspective—putting you on the front lines of a large-scale, 20-player PvE experience.

WoW Classic and No Reward Linking to Modern WoW

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker)

Mounts and companions you get in classic SHOULD NOT be usable across multiple characters on the same classic account, however, you should be able to have these rewards in retail. This will increase the longevity of classic.
Like it was stated at BlizzCon there will be no crossover in rewards between Retail WoW and Classic WoW. I don’t think there is any need to change that stance but I appreciate the post OP.

I think its fair to ask for an opportunity to earn those rewards again however I don’t think it should come at the cost of diminishing the rewards that players earned years ago and cherish. I think the opportunity to earn and have them exclusively on Classic is fair because its staying on Classic itself. I think any more crossover than that could be damaging and lessen the value or prestige of those rewards.

It’s a pretty solid philosophy at the moment that there will be zero crossover of rewards.

What about the original Collector’s Edition pets? Surely that’s a different case. Nothing else is like that and it would be a cool little tip of the hat to those who got the original collector’s edition (which isn’t many people).
This is something interesting but nothing decided or concrete on it.

I would try to seperate in your mind retail and classic. Something you buy on retail shouldn’t give you something in Classic, or vice versa. The philosophy is pretty rock solid that they are separate gameplay wise. If you obtained the original CE pets you used those/can still use those in the live game you obtained it for.

It is an interesting thought though, that to some that did have it, that was a part of their classic experience. It’s likely we won’t implement something that ties into the existing things you own on the live game, but maybe reoffer them since Classic is it’s own thing. Before the fury of that statement sinks in, I’m not saying that will happen at all (there literally hasn’t even been a discussion of it), just sharing my thoughts on a solution to that problem that I could see.

This also could be an exception where we somehow grant them for original CE owners. No idea. Interesting thing to think about though. I’ll mention it though that you guys are asking about the original CE pets for original CE owners.

but token purchases in retail are going to have an effect on Classic.
Eh that’s not really the same thing but I get your point. I’d argue that they’re still not connected even with that. Just having a subscription allows you to play the game. It doesn’t get you anything past that.

If things were sold like pets or mounts then you could make that argument, but I don’t think it has any merit when you’re just talking about the sub.

Literally one of two reasons I’d ever consider doing Classic just shot down instantly. You know that thing that’s used to keep people playing? You guys are just throwing it away. Seems very silly.
Sorry you feel this way but if that’s what you were hoping for then it sounds like Classic isn’t really for you. That’s okay though. I still encourage you to try it though!

It’s not throwing it away, its giving the community that wants Classic the most authentic experience we can provide. Adding any sort of reward carry over in either direction isn’t authentic and defeats the point.

Classic is there for those that will want to play it. Not just for rewards on their BfA license, which would be devaluing to those that earned those rewards that are no longer obtainable, and vice versa would be introducing things that were never there in Classic to begin with. Neither of which we want to do in this case. We know the community that has been asking for Classic for years doesn’t want either of those scenarios, and neither do we.

No, it really doesn’t. Blizzard said they could make an EXCEPTION.
Honestly, I would have the expectation that you won’t get them in Classic just because you already own them. That license was to have them in the current game, which you still do.

I can’t 100% say it will or won’t but it’s less than likely, meaning it’s not really something to argue about on the forums.

Assume Retail and Classic are two separate games entirely (apart from the sub granting access to both) unless we announce otherwise.